Hart Announces Change In SMU Men’s Basketball Leadership

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Hart Announces Change In SMU Men’s Basketball Leadership

DALLAS (SMU) - SMU Director of Athletics Rick Hart has announced a change in leadership for the Mustang men's basketball program.

"We want to thank Rob (Lanier) and his staff for their positive contributions to SMU and our men's basketball program these past two seasons," said Hart. "They always operated with integrity and in the best interests of the University and our student-athletes. We wish them and their families all the best the future.

"The investments we have made in support of SMU Basketball, combined with membership in the country's preeminent college basketball conference, the value of an SMU degree, our location in the heart of Dallas, Texas, our championship-caliber facilities, the NIL opportunities available to our student-athletes and SMU's commitment to comprehensive excellence position us to compete alongside the nation's best programs. Our focus now turns to finding a new leader as we prepare for the next era of SMU Athletics in the ACC."

A national search for a replacement will begin immediately.

[redpony]

thanks to hart and all who made a change possible. we needed an upgrade to compete in the ACC. now to find the person who will make us competitive.

[Charleston Pony]

Yes - thank you David Miller and whoever else might be involved in pushing this program back to national relevance.

[Pony ^]

finally a rick hart decision that was the right one.

Time to turn this thing around and fill that stadium agaiin.

[crazy horse]

Was there any chance Lanier stayed for another year? - Not that I wanted that. Had SMU won the NIT would that have kept him here?

I thought we played much better this year - obviously doubling the wins. But the losses were horrible. The 2nd half collapses became predictable. Had an unfamiliar person watched the first half of the NIT game, they would have assumed SMU would win by double digits. And there I was at halftime, up 9, not wanting to watch the 2nd half knowing that everything was about to go catawampus.

To be throttled, no that's not strong enough, to be embarrassed by an "Indiana state" is a pretty low mark. Glad it was on ESPN+ and not a national broadcast network. We looked like high school kids playing a division 1 college. They were scoring with ease - layups. And also out hustling us for rebounds and put backs. It appeared our players expected the loss as well towards the end.

I liked Lanier. He said all the right things. And I always hate to see people lose their jobs. But my gosh after watching what a Larry Brown can do at SMU, we should expect far more - ESPECIALLY with NIL and entering ACC play.

[EastStang]

Yeah, it wasn't just the Indiana State game, it was a 8-10 other games where we tanked in the second half. You don't give up double digit runs in the last quarter of the game. But we did over and over and over. Was it conditioning? That's on the coach. Was it lack of creativity in drawing up plays to get a needed basket? That's on the coach. Was it an inability to crack a 212 zone defense? That's on the coach. You need a coach who knows his own teams weaknesses and coaches them to adapt when teams try to exploit those weaknesses. Unfortunately, Coach Lanier didn't have that ability. Had we held leads, we probably would have gotten an NCAA bid. But we didn't. We backed into the NIT because 6 teams bailed. I am sorry to see Coach Lanier go, but it was the only choice given where we're headed next season.

[Charleston Pony]

We won 20 games in Lanier's 2nd year but lost 6 of our last 7 and had a losing record in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games. Just like in too many seasons past, we beat up on bad teams but weren't competitive against even the above average teams. That has to change and we know from the Larry Brown years that with the right coach it can.